Kearns Goodwin Quotes & Sayings

At last, the crowd composed itself enough for Roosevelt to speak. "At present," he began, "both the old parties are controlled by professional politicians in the interests of the privileged classes." Together, they would forge a new Progressive Party, based on "the right of the people to rule. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

Became postmaster general, and Edwin M. Stanton, Lincoln's "Mars," eventually became secretary — Doris Kearns Goodwin

Johnson saw preoccupation with principle and procedure as a sign of impotence. Such men were "troublemakers," more concerned with appearing forceful than in exercising the real strengths that led to tangible achievement. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

Still, slander against the president and first lady continued to fill the columns of opposition papers. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

The labor leader Samuel Gompers had long considered the production of cigars in unsanitary tenements "one of the most dreadful, cancerous sores" on the city of New York. Realizing — Doris Kearns Goodwin

Lincoln understood the importance, as one delegate put it, of integrating all the elements of the Republican party - including the impracticable, the Pharisees, the better-than-thou declaimers, the long-haired men and the short-haired women. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

Eleanor had defended over the years, that the money spent on arms would be much better spent on education and medical care. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

Of Teddy Roosevelt and his siblings, the author writes they were, armed with an innate curiosity and discipline fostered by his remarkable father. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

More accustomed to relying upon himself to shape events, he took the greatest control of the process leading up to the nomination, displaying a fierce ambition, an exceptional political acumen, and a wide range of emotional strengths, forged in the crucible of personal hardship, that took his unsuspecting rivals by surprise. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

When Taft gives way to his (anger), one reporter observed, it is to inflict a merciless thrashing upon its victim, for whom thereafter he has no use whatsoever. With Roosevelt is a case of powder and spark; there is a vivid flash and a deafening roar, but when the smoke is blown away, it is the end. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

This extreme treatment was among the proliferating regimens developed in response to the stunning increase in nervous disorders diagnosed around the turn of the century. Commentators and clinicians cited a number of factors related to the stresses of modern civilization: the increased speed of communication facilitated by the telegraph and railroad; the "unmelodious" clamor of city life replacing the "rhythmical" sounds of nature; and the rise of the tabloid press that exploded "local horrors" into national news. These nervous diseases became an epidemic among "the ultracompetitive businessman and the socially active woman. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

When they returned home, he took his young son aside. "Theodore, you have the mind but you have not the body, and without the help of the body the mind cannot go as far as it should," he admonished. "You must make your body. It is hard drudgery to make one's body, but I know you will do it." Teedie responded immediately, according to Corinne, giving his — Doris Kearns Goodwin

I don't know that I will ever make a political speech again." Would he care to qualify that statement? one reporter queried. "Yes," Roosevelt laughingly said. "I won't say never. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

To illustrate the marked atmospheric contrast between the two cities, the writer Frank Carpenter observed that in New York, "a streetcar will not wait for you if you are not just at its stopping point. It goes on and you must stand there until the next car comes along. In Washington people a block away signal the cars by waving their hands or their umbrellas. Then they walk to the car at a leisurely pace, while the drivers wait patiently and the horses rest." While the capital might lack "the spirit of intense energy" that animated New York, Carpenter concluded that Washington, with its broad, clean streets and fine marble buildings (and its shanties generally hidden from view), offered "the pleasanter place in which to live. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

Elizabeth Blair of brother Frank: he could not let even a great man set his small dogs on him without kicking the dog & giving his master some share of the resentment. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

The sad and poignant thing for Johnson, however, was not his anti-intellectualism in itself but his need to be accepted by the very people he scorned. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

Wherever a tension needed the solvent of good-will, or friction the oil of benevolence; wherever suspicion needed the antidote of frankness, or wounded pride the disinfectant of a hearty laugh - there Taft was sent. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

An adult friend of Lincoln's: Life was to him a school. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

Democratic periodicals in the North warned that the governor's stance would compromise highly profitable New York trade connections with Virginia and other slave states. Seward was branded "a bigoted New England fanatic." This only emboldened Seward's resolve to press the issue. He spurred the Whig-dominated state legislature to pass a series of antislavery laws affirming the rights of black citizens against seizure by Southern agents, guaranteeing a trial by jury for any person so apprehended, and prohibiting New York police officers and jails from involvement in the apprehension of fugitive slaves. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

As a historian, what I trust is my ability to take a mass of information and tell a story shaped around it. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

The books my mother read and reread provided a broader, more adventurous world, and escape from the confines of her chronic illness. Her interior life was enriched even as her physical life contracted. If she couldn't change the reality of her situation, she could change her perception of it. She could enter into the lives of the characters in her books, sharing their journeys while she remained seated in her chair. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

THE SUMMER OF 1863 marked a crucial transformation in the Union war effort - the organization and deployment of black regiments that would eventually amount to 180,000 soldiers, a substantial proportion of eligible black males. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

FDR once said he was like a cat, that he would pounce and then relax. That's much harder to do in the 24-hour cable world, because it's almost like the press demands of you to be saying something or doing something every day. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

The choice of Blaine "speaks badly for the intelligence of the mass of my party," he ruefully continued. "It may be that 'the voice of the people is the voice of God' in fifty one cases out of a hundred; but in the remaining forty nine it is quite as likely to be the voice of the devil, or, what is still worse, the voice of a fool." Still, — Doris Kearns Goodwin

I've been to the White House a number of times. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

(Taft's mother's) losing her firstborn had convinced her that children are treasures lent not given and that they may be recalled at any time. Parents, she firmly believed, could never love their children too much. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

There was no need to remind Roosevelt who controlled the senate. "I persistently refused to lose my temper," he recalled. "I merely explained good-humoredly that I had made up my mind." Though he steadfastly refused — Doris Kearns Goodwin

In the long sentences of the president's message, semicolons followed by "yet" or "but" separated clauses that balanced each side of an issue, reflecting Roosevelt's characteristic "on the one hand, on the other" style of crediting antagonistic views. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

If the spirited crowd expected a speech exalting recent Union victories, they were disappointed. In keeping with his lifelong tendency to consider all sides of a troubled situation, Lincoln urged a more sympathetic understanding of the nation's alienated citizens in the South. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

As soon as (Teddy Roosevelt) received an assignment for a paper or project, he would set to work, never leaving anything to the last minute. Prepared so far ahead "freed his mind" from worry and facilitated fresh, lucid thought. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

Don't hit till you have to; but, when you do hit, hit hard. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

The majority of the great fortunes were "won not by doing evil, but as an incident to action which has benefited the community as a whole. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

The Yale graduate who had refused to read outside the course curriculum (the future Pres. Taft) suddenly found himself inspired. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

It soon became clear, however, that Abraham Lincoln would emerge the undisputed captain of this most unusual cabinet, truly a team of rivals. The powerful competitors who had originally disdained Lincoln became colleagues who helped him steer the country through its darkest days. Seward — Doris Kearns Goodwin

If he could not go out into the world, the world could come to him. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

Roosevelt and Root deputized Taft to inform the Holy See that the United States would purchase the lands for a fair price so long as the hated friars never returned to the archipelago. The land would then be redistributed among the poor Filipino farmers. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

The habit of mobility had become ingrained. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

After ministering each day to the hundreds of young men who had endured ghastly wounds, submitted to amputations without anesthesia, and often died without the comfort of family or friends, Whitman wrote, nothing of ordinary misfortune seems as it used to. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

Edith (the future Mrs. Teddy Roosevelt) developed a lifelong devotion to drama and poetry. "I have gone back to Shakespeare, as I always do," she would write seven decades later. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

The only protection as a historian is to institute a process of research and writing that minimizes the possibility of error. And that I have tried to do, aided by modern technology, which enables me, having long since moved beyond longhand, to use a computer for both organizing and taking notes. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

No man resolved to make the most of himself, can spare time for personal contention. Still less can he afford to take all the consequences, including the vitiating of his temper, and the loss of self-control. Yield larger things to which you can show no more than equal right; and yield lesser ones, though clearly your own. Better give your path to a dog, than be bitten by him in contesting for the right. Even killing the dog would not cure the bite." Frank — Doris Kearns Goodwin

we should look beyond our noses; — Doris Kearns Goodwin

We've got to figure out a way that we give a private sphere for our public leaders. We're not gonna get the best people in public life if we don't do that. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

In order to "win a man to your cause," Lincoln explained, you must first reach his heart, "the great high road to his reason. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

Wilson argued that "the wealth of America" lay in its small businesses, its towns and villages. "Its vitality does not lie in New York, nor in Chicago," he asserted; "it will not be sapped by anything that happens in St. Louis. The vitality of America lies in the brains, the energies, the enterprise of the people throughout the land; in the efficiency of their factories and in the richness of the fields that stretch beyond the borders of the town. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

The only question now," he said, "is which corpse gets the most flowers. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

A man never knows exactly how the child of his brain will strike other people. — William Howard Taft

The people "placed me in an office of the highest dignity and charged me with the duty of maintaining that dignity and proper respect for the office on the part of my subordinates. . . . By your own conduct you have destroyed your usefulness as a helpful subordinate. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

It is surprising," Roosevelt explained, "how much reading a man can do in time usually wasted. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

'The bully pulpit' is somewhat diminished in our age of fragmented attention and fragmented media. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

I shall always be grateful for this curious love of history, allowing me to spend a lifetime looking back into the past, allowing me to learn from these large figures about the struggle for meaning for life. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

Teddy Roosevelt "had relished "every hour" of every day as president. Indeed, (he was) fearing the "dull thud" he would experience upon returning to private life. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

There is no one left," McClure exhorted his readers as he cast about for a remedy to America's woes at the turn of the twentieth century, "none but all of us. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

Our party, he declared, stands for "the right of property" and "the right of liberty," for institutions that have "stood the test of time," and for an economic system that rewards "energy, courage, enterprise, attention to duty, hard work, thrift, and providence" rather than "laziness, lack of attention, lack of industry, the yielding to appetite and passion. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

We should constantly be reminded of what we owe in return for what we have. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

My books are written with a strong chronological spine. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

The Know Nothings fought to delay citizenship for the new immigrants and bar them from voting. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

It is seldom that persons who enjoy intervals of public life are happy in their periods of seclusion. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

Whereas Taft discouraged the young Yale student from extracurricular reading, fearful it would detract from required courses, Roosevelt read widely yet managed to stand near the top of his class. The breath of his numerous interests allowed him to draw on knowledge across various disciplines, from zoology in philosophy and religion, from poetry and drama to history and politics. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

Excitement about things became a habit, a part of my personality, and the expectation that I should enjoy new experiences often engendered the enjoyment itself. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

Republican Robert La Follette of Wisconsin had defied the machine to become governor by waging war on the railroads that ruled his state. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

Modernizing the postal service was particularly important for the soldiers, who relied on letters, newspapers, and magazines from home to sustain morale. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

Through the last days of May and the early days of June, Eleanor — Doris Kearns Goodwin

They all start competing against Lincoln as the greatest president. And the [library] building becomes the symbol, the memorial to that dream. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

Those who knew Lincoln described him as an extraordinarily funny man. Humor was an essential aspect of his temperament. He laughed, he explained, so he did not weep. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

Admiral Dahlgren's twenty-one-year-old son, Ulric, had lost a leg at Gettysburg. When he appeared at a Washington party, he was surrounded by pretty girls. They stayed by his side all night, refusing to dance, in tribute to the handsome colonel who had been known as an expert waltzer. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

It's a bully speech," encouraged Roosevelt in reply. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

Lincoln had internalized the pain of those around him - the wounded soldiers, the captured prisoners, the defeated Southerners. Little wonder that he was overwhelmed at times by a profound sadness that even his own resilient temperament could not dispel. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

But unlike the "electric" excitement that had filled the room four years earlier, when Nellie had sparkled with happiness and Taft had "laughed with the joy of a boy," both the president and first lady clearly understood that the divisive convention had rendered Republican chances for election in November almost impossible. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

People tease me about knowing somehow that Obama would put Clinton into the cabinet, and everybody would talk about a team of rivals. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

Better to have your enemies inside your tent pissing out, then to have them outside your tent pissing in. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

Still, Roosevelt noted, it was "not always easy to strike the just middle," and he inevitably made mistakes. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

On the morning of June 20, at a hastily arranged conference at New York's Gramercy Park Hotel, a new umbrella organization was born with Eleanor as honorary chair - the U.S. Committee for the Care of European Children. The purpose of the new committee was to coordinate all the different agencies and resources available in the United States for the care of refugee children. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

Walt Whitman, who worked as a nurse in the hospital wards, that the harrowing experience made one's "little cares and difficulties" disappear "into nothing. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

She feared that she would become a slave to superficial, symbolic duties. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

There I go When my heart all worn by grief Sinketh low. Where my baseless hopes do lie There to find my peace, go I. Sad and slow . . — Doris Kearns Goodwin

I could carve out of a banana a judge with more backbone than that, — Doris Kearns Goodwin

Why bother with fictional characters and plots when the world was full of more marvelous stories that were true, with characters so fresh, so powerful, so new, that they stepped from into the narratives under their own power? — Doris Kearns Goodwin

The meanest man in the world," he remarked, "is the man who forgets the old friends that helped him on an early day and over early difficulties. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

The story is told of Lincoln's first meeting with Mary at a festive party. Captivated by her lively manner, intelligent face, clear blue eyes, and dimpled smile, Lincoln reportedly said, "I want to dance with you in the worst way." And, Mary laughingly told her cousin later that night, "he certainly did. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

She could be affectionate, generous, and optimistic one day; vengeful, depressed, and irritable the next. In the colloquial language of her friends, she was "either in the garret or cellar." In either mood, she needed attention, something the self-contained Lincoln was not always able to provide. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

There is no one left; none but all of us. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

It is not until one visits old, oppressed, suffering Europe, that he can appreciate his own government, "he observed, "that he realizes the fearful responsibility of the American people to the nations of the whole earth, to carry successfully through the experiment ... That men are capable of self-government. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

The histories and tragedies of Shakespeare that Lincoln loved most dealt with themes that would resonate to a president in the midst of civil war: political intrigue, the burdens of power, the nature of ambition, the relationship of leaders to those they governed. The plays illuminated with stark beauty the dire consequences of civil strife, the evils wrought by jealousy and disloyalty, the emotions evoked by the death of a child, the sundering of family ties or love of country. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

I still think about that one Jamiroquai video a lot. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

FDR, even weakened and near the end of his life, opted to allow disabled veterans to see his true condition. This allowed them to understand the life which could still be before them. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

Sam Parks was simply a paid agent for his union, receiving the same salary as an ordinary workman in his trade. In reality, Baker tracked him "riding about in his cab, wearing diamonds, appearing on the street with his blooded bulldog, supporting his fast horses, 'treating' his friends. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

When he first returned to the Badlands in the summer of 1884, the austere landscape seemed to mirror his melancholy. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

I find that without a place to work, it is difficult to work. I look forward with the greatest pleasure to the use of my books at night at home. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

It was Andrew Jackson's motto, he reminded, that if you temporize, you are lost. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

morning I was at work in the Labor Department — Doris Kearns Goodwin

I wish we could go back to the time when the private lives of our public figures were relevant only if they directly affected their public responsibilities. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

One-time rival and subsequent usurper Secretary of State Seward finally settled into an assessment of Lincoln that, His confidence and compassion increase every day. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

national press. He called them by their first names, invited them — Doris Kearns Goodwin

The biggest danger to American stability," Johnson argued, "is the politics of principle, which brings out the masses in irrational fights for unlimited goals, for once the masses begin to move, then the whole thing begins to explode. Thus it is for the sake of nothing less than stability that I consider myself a consensus man. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

The flames of a new economic evolution run around us, and we turn to find that competition has killed competition, that corporations are grown greater than the State . . . and that the naked issue of our time is with property becoming master, instead of servant. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

As a consequence [of a closed economic circle], in 1912 there was not a single Irishman who sat on a single board of a major Boston bank. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

Fanny was upset when Crittenden criticized Florence Nightingale, the celebrated British nurse of the Crimean War, saying, he thought it a very unwomanly thing for a gentle lady to go into a hospital of wounded men. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

Lincoln replied that he was more than willing to die, but that he had done nothing to make any human being remember that he had lived, and that to connect his name with the events transpiring in his day and generation and so impress himself upon them as to link his name with something that would redound to the interest of his fellow man was what he desired to live for. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

Not everyone was meant to be No. 1. — Doris Kearns Goodwin